Palace Poker Rules

Palace Poker, also called Castle Poker or Banner Poker, was contributed to pagat.com by Scott Henneman. It is played by two to ten players with a standard 52-card deck.

Cards rank from ace (high) down to two. Suits have no rank. Hands rank according to the standard poker hand rankings, and a player's hand is the best five cards from all of their cards, subject to the banner-suit rule in battles (4.8).

Each player has three kinds of card:

1.3(a) a banner card, dealt face up, whose suit is that player's own suit;

1.3(b) three face-down palace cards; and

1.3(c) up to five face-up soldier cards, bought from the deck or won in battles.

The game is played with a small bet and a big bet, as in fixed-limit poker (for example 5 and 10). It may also be played no-limit, in which case the fixed amounts below become minimums.

The object is to win the pot, either by being the last player left after the others are knocked out in battles, or by holding the best hand when the hand ends without a battle.

The first dealer is chosen by dealing one card to each player; the highest card deals. Players who tie are dealt another card each until the tie is broken.

Each player antes to pay for their banner card. The ante is usually half a small bet, rounded down, so in a 5 and 10 game it is 2.

Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player is dealt one card face up as their banner. The players are dealt banners in groups of four, in seating order: players 1 to 4, players 5 to 8, and players 9 and 10. Within a group, every banner must be of a different suit.

2.3(a) If a card would give a player the same suit as an earlier banner in their group, it is set aside and the dealer deals that player another card, until a card of a new suit appears.

2.3(b) If the deck runs out during the banner deal, the set-aside cards are shuffled and the deal continues from the player who is waiting.

The set-aside cards are then returned to the deck and shuffled. The dealer deals three palace cards face down to each player, one at a time, starting with the player to the dealer's left, and places the rest of the deck in the centre as the draw pile.

The discard pile is placed beside the draw pile and is always kept face down.

Buy. The player pays one small bet into the pot and takes the top card of the draw pile, placing it face up below their banner as a soldier. On the same turn, they may then discard any number of their soldiers, including the new one.

A player may hold no more than five soldiers. A player who buys while already holding five must discard at least one.

If a player wishes to buy and the draw pile is empty, the dealer shuffles the discard pile to form a new draw pile. If both piles are empty, buying is not possible.

Discard. The player pays nothing and draws nothing, but discards one or more soldiers face down.

Stay. The player does nothing, and the turn passes to the left.

Fold. The player may fold on their turn and leave the hand. Since staying is free, this is rarely done.

The bet. A player who bets, the attacker, names one opponent, the defender, usually by their banner card. A player may not attack an opponent whose banner is of the same suit as their own.

The attacker's bet is one small bet for each of their face-up cards: their soldiers plus their banner. In a no-limit game, this is the minimum bet. All chips bet in a battle go into the central pot.

The defender may fold, call or raise:

4.3(a) Fold. The defender puts their palace cards on the discard pile and is out of the hand. The attacker takes the defender's banner and soldiers as new soldiers, keeping at most five and discarding the rest.

4.3(b) Call. The defender pays one small bet for each of their own face-up cards. In a no-limit game, the defender pays the attacker's bet, adjusted up or down by one small bet for each face-up card the defender has more or fewer than the attacker.

4.3(c) Raise. The defender first puts in the calling amount, then raises. In a fixed-limit game, a raise is one big bet, or one small bet if the defender has no soldiers. In a no-limit game, the raise must be at least one big bet, or one small bet if the defender has no soldiers.

After a raise, the attacker may fold, call or re-raise (one big bet in a fixed-limit game), and the defender may re-raise again. Three raises in a battle is the usual limit.

If the attacker folds to a raise, only the attacker's bet and the defender's calling amount go into the pot; the defender takes back the raise. The attacker is out of the hand, and the defender takes the attacker's banner and soldiers.

When the betting ends with a call, the player who made the final call looks first at the opponent's palace cards, which are passed across face down. That player compares the opponent's best five-card hand, from palace, banner and soldier cards, with their own.

The loser discards their palace cards and is out of the hand, and the winner takes the loser's banner and soldiers as soldiers, subject to the five-soldier limit. A player who claims to have won shows their palace cards so the opponent can confirm it.

Banner-suit rule. During a battle, a player's cards of the opponent's banner suit do not count. The one exception is four of a kind, where all four cards count.

Ties. If both players have the same five-card hand, the player whose hand contains more cards of their own banner suit wins. If that also ties, both players are out and all their cards go to the discard pile, unless they are the only two players left, in which case they split the pot.

If only two players remain and one attacks the other, the winner of that battle wins the pot. A player left alone after all others are out wins the pot.

If the only players remaining, two or three of them, all have banners of the same suit, they cannot attack one another. The hand ends at once and they split the pot.

If every player in turn stays, discards or folds, so that a full circuit passes with no money going into the pot, the hand ends in a showdown. Players show their palace cards, starting with the player who began that run of turns.

At this showdown the banner-suit rule does not apply. The best five-card hand from each player's palace, banner and soldier cards wins the pot.

If the best hands tie, the hand with more cards of the player's own banner suit wins. If that also ties, the pot is split.

No pot sharing. Instead of splitting the pot under 5.2, same-suit survivors go straight to a showdown under 5.4 and 5.5.

Open market. A player may buy the top card of the discard pile instead of the draw pile, for one big bet. Neighbouring players could collude under this rule, so it should be watched.

Kings in the House (Royal Palace). The court cards of a player's own banner suit become semi-wild when held among their palace cards (not as banner or soldiers). Aces are never wild.

6.3(a) The king may stand for any card from king down, of any suit.

6.3(b) The queen may stand for any card from queen down, of either suit of its own colour.

6.3(c) The jack may stand for any card from jack down, of its own suit only.

6.3(d) None of them may stand for an ace, except as the ace in a five-high straight or straight flush (A-2-3-4-5).

Without money. Buying and attacking are free, and there is no calling or raising. The winner of each hand scores 10 points minus the number of soldiers they hold at the end, and the first player to reach 100 points, or another agreed target, wins. Same-suit survivors play a showdown, and a complete tie scores nothing.